Council Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for
Community action in the field of water policy (Water Framework
Directive)

Rivers, lakes and coastal waters are vital natural resources:
they provide drinking water, crucial habitats for many different
types of wildlife, and are an important resource for industry and
recreation. A significant proportion of them are environmentally
damaged or under threat. Protecting and improving the environment
is an important part of achieving sustainable development and is
vital for the long term health, well being and prosperity of
everyone.
The EC Water Framework Directive is a welcome
and radical improvement on earlier, piecemeal EU water legislation.
It expands the scope of water protection to all waters and sets out
clear objectives that must be achieved by specified dates.

The Directive requires Member States to establish river basin
districts and for each of these a river basin management plan. The
Directive envisages a cyclical process where river basin management
plans are prepared, implemented and reviewed every six years. There
are four distinct elements to the river basin planning cycle:
characterisation and assessment of impacts on river basin
districts; environmental monitoring; the setting of environmental
objectives; and the design and implementation of the programme of
measures needed to achieve them.

The Directive has a series of implementation deadlines which
stretch to December 2015 (the date by which environmental
objectives must be met). Information about UK implementation can be
found via the Defra website.

JNCC's work in relation to the Water Framework Directive is
discharged through various groups. These include the Inter-Agency
Water Framework Directive Nature
Conservation Group (NCG), and the UK Technical
Advisory Group's (UKTAG’s) Marine Task Team (MTT) and its Alien
Species Group (ASG).

The NCG focuses on all aspects of the WFD that are especially
relevant to nature conservation. In particular the group has
contributed to UKTAG’s work on wetland habitats, monitoring methods
for fresh waters, river basin characterisation and small water
bodies, ecological status classification, and river basin
management plans.

The MTT advises on the technical aspects of typology, reference
conditions, classification and monitoring requirements for
transitional and coastal waters. This group has also contributed to
the development of European guidance for the EC's Common
Implementation Strategy and an extensive programme to
inter-calibrate classification tools across Europe. JNCC has been
working through MTT to integrate and harmonise tools, monitoring
approaches (including Quality Assurance/Quality Control), and where
possible, monitoring programmes to ensure maximum use of resources
and data to inform condition assessments for the Habitats
Directive.

Under the MTT are a number of sub-groups which feed into the
development of classification tools for the biological quality
elements. One of these sub-groups, the Marine Benthic Invertebrate
Task Team (MBITT) has developed classification tools for the
benthic invertebrate fauna to be assessed, although some gaps still
remain. JNCC's focus in this group has been on its relationship to
monitoring and the assessment of Special Areas of Conservation
(SAC) condition. JNCC has worked with MBITT on investigating
methods for assessing both soft sediment and hard substratum
benthic macroinvertebrate communities.

The ASG has helped guide the work on how non-native species
should be addressed under the WFD. This has resulted in a
continually updated list of species of concern in
aquatic habitats and guidance on how non-native species
data should be incorporated into classifications of ecological
status. The ASG has also played a major role in work on these
matters at a European level through the European Commission’s
ECOSTAT group.

River
Basin Management Plan consultations carried out by the
Competent Authorities with responsibility for the Water Framework
Directive across the UK closed in June 2009, with the intention to
have the final plans published in December 2009. These plans will
inform the Directive’s Programme of Measures required to help
minimise impacts on Annexed features.